The Role of Leadership in Shaping an Innovative Atmosphere: A Qualitative Study of Insights from the Egyptian Telecommunications Industry

Rasha El Gendi^1,

¹Coventry School of Business, the Knowledge Hub Universities-Coventry Branch, Cairo, Egypt

Cite this paper:
Rasha El Gendi. The Role of Leadership in Shaping an Innovative Atmosphere: A Qualitative Study of Insights from the Egyptian Telecommunications Industry. Journal of Business and Management Sciences. 2026; 14(4):86-92. doi: 10.12691/jbms-14-4-1

Abstract

A climate for innovation has become a critical resource for service organisations seeking to differentiate themselves through customer experience, yet the leadership conditions that shape this climate remain only partially understood. This paper examines the role of leadership – at senior management, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), and line manager level – in shaping an innovative atmosphere within a service organisation. Adopting a qualitative single case study design, thirty-five in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with employees and managers of a major telecommunications company in Egypt, a market characterised by economic and political turbulence. Findings reveal that senior leadership and CEO sponsorship, high-quality leader-member relationships between line managers and subordinates, and leadership-driven customer centricity are among the most influential leadership dimensions fostering an innovative organisational atmosphere. The study identifies specific leadership behaviours – including intellectual stimulation, participative decision-making, non-controlling supervision, and the communication of a customer-centric vision – that employees associated with the differentiated products and services the organisation brought to market. Because customers were not participants in this study, these associations with customer experience are reported as employees' own perceptions and interpretations rather than as independently verified customer-side outcomes. The paper contributes to leadership and innovation management literature by offering an in-depth, qualitative account of how leadership shapes an innovative organisational atmosphere, and offers managers a diagnostic framework of leadership practices for building innovative, customer-oriented organisations in turbulent emerging markets.

Keywords:
leadership transformational leadership climate for innovation customer experience Egypt

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

References:

[1]	Meyer, C. and Schwager, A., 2007. Understanding customer experience. Harvard Business Review, 85(2), pp.116-126.
[2]	Lemon, K.N. and Verhoef, P.C., 2016. Understanding customer experience throughout the customer journey. Journal of Marketing, 80(6), pp.69-96.
[3]	Klaus, P. and Maklan, S., 2012. EXQ: a multiple-item scale for assessing service experience. Journal of Service Management, 23(1), pp.5-33.
[4]	Homburg, C., Jozic, D. and Kuehnl, C., 2017. Customer experience management: toward implementing an evolving marketing concept. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 45(3), pp.377-401.
[5]	Verhoef, P.C., Lemon, K.N., Parasuraman, A., Roggeveen, A., Tsiros, M. and Schlesinger, L.A., 2009. Customer experience creation: Determinants, dynamics and management strategies. Journal of Retailing, 85(1), pp.31-41.
[6]	Amabile, T.M., Schatzel, E.A., Moneta, G.B. and Kramer, S.J., 2004. Leader behaviors and the work environment for creativity: Perceived leader support. The Leadership Quarterly, 15(1), pp.5-32.
[7]	Isaksen, S.G. and Akkermans, H.J., 2011. Creative climate: A leadership lever for innovation. Journal of Creative Behavior, 45(3), pp.161-187.
[8]	Ekvall, G., 1996. Organizational climate for creativity and innovation. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 5(1), pp.105-123.
[9]	de Jong, J.P.J. and Den Hartog, D.N., 2007. How leaders influence employees’ innovative behaviour. European Journal of Innovation Management, 10(1), pp.41-64.
[10]	García-Morales, V.J., Llorens-Montes, F.J. and Verdu-Jover, A.J., 2007. Influence of personal mastery on organisational performance through organisational learning and innovation in large firms and SMEs. Technovation, 27(9), pp.547-568.
[11]	Sarros, J.C., Cooper, B.K. and Santora, J.C., 2008. Building a climate for innovation through transformational leadership and organisational culture. Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies, 15(2), pp.145-158.
[12]	Graen, G.B. and Uhl-Bien, M., 1995. Relationship-based approach to leadership: Development of leader-member exchange (LMX) theory of leadership over 25 years. The Leadership Quarterly, 6(2), pp.219-247.
[13]	Tierney, P., Farmer, S.M. and Graen, G.B., 1999. An examination of leadership and employee creativity: the relevance of traits and relationships. Personnel Psychology, 52(3), pp.591-620.
[14]	Aryee, S., Hsiung, H.-H., Jo, H.Y., Chuang, C.-H. and Chiao, Y.-C., 2023. Servant leadership and customer service performance: testing social learning and social exchange-informed motivational pathways. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 32(4), pp.506-519.
[15]	Bass, B.M., 1985. Leadership and Performance Beyond Expectations. New York: Free Press.
[16]	Cheung, M.F.Y. and Wong, C.S., 2011. Transformational leadership, leader support, and employee creativity. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 32(7), pp.656-672.
[17]	Choi, S.B., Kim, K., Ullah, S.M.E. and Kang, S.-W., 2016. How transformational leadership facilitates innovative behavior of Korean workers: Examining mediating and moderating processes. Personnel Review, 45(3), pp.459-479.
[18]	Khalili, A., 2016. Linking transformational leadership, creativity, innovation, and innovation-supportive climate. Management Decision, 54(9), pp.2277-2293.
[19]	Rehmani, M., Farheen, N., Khokhar, M.N., Khalid, A., Dalain, A.F. and Irshad, H., 2023. How Does Transformational Leadership Stimulate Employee Innovative Behavior? A Moderated Mediation Analysis. SAGE Open, 13(3), Article 21582440231198401.
[20]	Business Monitor International, 2016. Egypt Telecommunications Report. London: Business Monitor International.
[21]	Schmitt, B.H., 2010. Customer Experience Management: A Revolutionary Approach to Connecting with Your Customers. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
[22]	Kuehnl, C., Jozic, D. and Homburg, C., 2019. Effective customer journey design: consumers’ conception, measurement, and consequences. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 47(3), pp.551-568.
[23]	Gahler, M., Klein, J.F. and Paul, M., 2023. Customer Experience: Conceptualization, Measurement, and Application in Omnichannel Environments. Journal of Service Research, 26(2), pp.191-211.
[24]	Amabile, T., Conti, R., Coon, H., Lazenby, J. and Herron, M., 1996. Assessing the work environment for creativity. Academy of Management Journal, 39(5), pp.1154-1184.
[25]	Llorens-Montes, F.J., Ruiz Moreno, A. and García Morales, V., 2005. Influence of support leadership and teamwork cohesion on organizational learning, innovation and performance: an empirical examination. Technovation, 25(10), pp.1159-1172.
[26]	Chen, J.X., Sharma, P., Zhan, W. and Liu, L., 2019. Demystifying the impact of CEO transformational leadership on firm performance: Interactive roles of exploratory innovation and environmental uncertainty. Journal of Business Research, 96, pp.85-96.
[27]	Zhou, J. and Shalley, C.E., 2003. Research on employee creativity: a critical review and directions for future research. In: J.J. Martocchio, ed. Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management, Vol. 22. Bradford: Emerald Group Publishing, pp.165-217.
[28]	Daymon, C. and Holloway, I., 2011. Qualitative Research Methods in Public Relations and Marketing Communications. 2nd ed. Abingdon: Routledge.
[29]	Stake, R.E., 1995. The Art of Case Study Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
[30]	Shah, S.K. and Corley, K.G., 2006. Building better theory by bridging the quantitative-qualitative divide. Journal of Management Studies, 43(8), pp.1821-1835.
[31]	Miles, M.B. and Huberman, A.M., 1994. Qualitative Data Analysis: An Expanded Sourcebook. 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.